The 100 Oldest Living Former Big Leaguers

Fred Caligiuri

Thanks to Baseball Almanac.com and this handy submission by our dear friend and timely contributor, Darrell Pittman, The Pecan Park Eagle is happy to provide you with this following chart of the 100 Oldest Living Former Big Leaguers. It was accurate to the day, August 22, 2018, when we received it. We do not know how often it is updated and, of course, we don’t know of any more recent departures over the past 24 hours. The shipping out rate comes often, in single and small group departures at this age, so you never know when the winds of change are going to blow. You just have to rest assured that they will.

#1 Fred Caligiuri, a right hander, pitched only two seasons and 18 games in 1941-42, posting a career record of 2 wins and 5 losses and an ERA OF 4.52 for 79.2 innings of work. He is scheduled to turn 100 on his next birthday, October 22, 2018.

#29 Bobby Shantz, the first man to ever touch a baseball in the name of Houston MLB back in 1962, is both the oldest and only former Houston big leaguer on the list.

Local Houston Larry Dierker SABR Chapter member Larry Miggins is the 26th oldest surviving former big leaguer and the oldest of former Houston Buffs on this list who also made it to the big leagues for some time at the top. Five other former Buffs/MLB survivors include #36 Jack Crimian, #47 Ed Mickelson, #48 Dick Bokelmann, #58 Cloyd Boyer, and #80 Joe Presko.

Top North Texas veterans, #6 Eddie Robinson and #22 Bobby Brown are both on the list.

Have fun looking things over yourself. If I missed some former Buffs or Astros from glance review, please comment and point out the errors. I haven’t qualified for any gold gloves by inspection alone for quite some time, but that doesn’t keep me from an attraction to this kind of thing that still has all the power of that old “moth to the flame” pull.